Easter Egg-Venture, Palm Sunday & Holy Week are Here

Dear Resurrection Family,

I want to encourage you to be in worship this weekend. It is Palm Sunday. Our children will carry their palm branches into the sanctuary as we remember Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. But quickly we’ll move to Good Friday, and we’ll recount the events of Jesus’ crucifixion focusing on the three statements Jesus makes in Luke’s gospel, as he is dying on the cross. Luke intends these statements to help us understand the significance of Jesus’ death. As part of the sermon, we’ll build the cross and hang the crown of thorns upon it. And at the end of the service at all locations, we’ll extinguish the Christ Candle we lit on Christmas Eve and leave the room in silence. The sermon is entitled, Crucified with the Outlaws.

It will be powerful on TV and online, but if you live in Kansas City, I’d encourage you to try to worship in person at one of our five area locations. It is a very dramatic conclusion to our service, and one that is even more dramatic in person – it will move you.

RESURRECTION CITY-WIDE EASTER EGG HUNT TOMORROW MORNING!

Each of our locations will host an amazing “Egg-Venture” with games, and crafts and thousands of Easter Eggs to be hunted! It’s happening tomorrow morning from 10 am – noon at five locations around the city! Bring your friends and neighbors for this free, family-friendly event with fun-filled activities for kids of every age! The Leawood, West, Overland Park and Blue Springs events will be on their church sites, and Downtown’s will be on the grounds of the World War I Museum and Memorial in KCMO. At Leawood there will be a petting zoo and our annual Children’s Musical, The Agape League (there are equally exciting things happening at the other locations – see your location pastor’s e-mail from earlier this week). RSVP here to let us know you’re coming, and you’ll be entered in a drawing for fabulous family prize packages.

INVITE A FRIEND TO WORSHIP THIS WEEKEND

Invite them to join you in person at one of our five locations, online or on television. Leawood location at 7:30, 9, 11 am (traditional at 11 in the sanctuary, modern at 11 in the Foundry) or 5 pm Downtown location Saturday at 5 pm or Sunday at 9 or 11 am Blue Springs, Olathe (West) and Overland Park locations Sunday at 9 or 11 am Online at cor.org on Saturday at 5 pm or Sunday at 7:30, 9 and 11 am or 5 pm On KMCI Channel 38 television at 8 am or 11 am On demand on YouTube throughout the week

WHO WILL YOU SHARE EASTER WITH THIS YEAR?

The majority of people who visit church for the first time do so because someone invited them. And the two days when people are most likely to come to church are Christmas Eve and Easter. If you have a friend who isn’t involved in church, I encourage you to invite them to join you for worship this Easter. We have an Easter page with some tools you can use to invite someone – postcards, coffee, online graphics and prayers. Check it out!

We’ve also got a thirty-second TV spot running on local TV inviting people to Easter worship. There is also a sixty-second version that can be viewed and shared, here.

Again, if you are in Kansas City and physically able, I hope you’ll consider worshipping in person at one of our five locations. We’ll have services Saturday night at 5 pm, and Sunday at 7 (or 7:30 am at some locations), 9 am and 11 am. The complete list of times and locations is available on the website. If you’re outside of the metro or not able join us in person, we’ll have online and television services at several times on Easter Sunday: online at 7:30, 9 and 11 am; on KSHB Channel 41 at 10 am; and on KMCI Channel 38 television at 8 and 11 am. At all of our services, we’ll have inspiring music and a message of hope. It’s going to be awesome!

Easter Details →

HELP WELCOME GUESTS TO EASTER WORSHIP

As we look forward to more people returning to in-person worship this Easter, volunteers are needed at all locations to serve in worship and KiDSCOR. Here’s the link where you can sign up. Just select your location, service time and position to serve.

Volunteer to serve at Easter worship →

GOOD FRIDAY PRAYER EXPERIENCE AT 3 PM AND WORSHIP AT 7 PM CDT

This year we are changing up our Holy Week traditions a bit. Instead of our Maundy Thursday service, which was largely focused on Good Friday, and our all-day Good Friday Prayer Vigil, we’re going to offer two Good Friday opportunities we think will be meaningful for you this year as you prepare for Easter:

Stop, Drop and Pray Experience

On Friday, April 15, at 3 pm CT, we want to invite our entire congregation to stop wherever you are, and drop whatever you are doing, to pause to pray. This time marks the moment Jesus drew his last breath (Luke 23:44-46). We’ll be praying together as one church, at one time, at the very moment that Christ died for us, redeeming the world. Beginning next Tuesday, we’ll have a link you can use to download a guide to use during your prayer time. Put a reminder on your calendar or an alarm on your phone for 3 pm on April 15 and plan to join us in prayer. Our Good Friday Prayer Vigil attendance had been waning since COVID. We wanted to try this as an opportunity to see thousands of people praying and remembering Christ at the moment of his death.

Good Friday Worship Services

Join us for a special Tenebrae service with live preaching at each of our locations. We’ll remember Jesus’ final hours as the light is gradually extinguished to represent the darkness before we look to the hope, light and celebration of Easter. This will be a powerful service of worship as we mark Good Friday and the wondrous love of Christ, and remember his final words. Worship at all of our locations at 7 pm or stream the service at cor.org/live at 7pm CT, or on our YouTube Channel.

SERVE SATURDAY APRIL 16

Join us for a family-friendly Serve Saturday, April 16. Here’s the link to current serve opportunities. Just select where you would like to serve and sign up. Then on Saturday, go directly to your selected serve site. This month we are collecting disposable diapers for our food pantry and feminine hygiene products throughout the month. You can drop off donations on Serve Saturday, April 16, between 9 and 11 am at our Overland Park, Downtown and West locations.

BOBBI JO REED SPEAKING AT RESURRECTION RECOVERY APRIL 14

Bobbi Jo Reed, Founder and CEO of Healing House, will share her Testimony at Resurrection Recovery Thursday, April 14, at the Leawood location. Resurrection Recovery groups meet at every Resurrection location and online. Their purpose is to help people find hope and freedom from addiction and know that nothing is impossible with God. With 26 years of continuous sobriety, Bobbi Jo has provided safe, transitional housing for the past 20 years. Healing House currently houses 200 adults and 30 children. The award-winning documentary film, Bobbi Jo: Under the Influence, was released in 2021, and her autobiography, Beautifully Broken, continues transforming lives. Bobbi Jo will speak from 6 – 7 pm, but you can join us at 5:30 pm for food and fellowship.

PARENT SUPPORT GROUP FORMING

In response to an increased need for support for parents whose son or daughter passed as a direct result of substance use, a few of our members (each with personal experience in this type of loss) have developed the curriculum for a six-week discussion-based support group, designed to complement (not replace) professional counseling and involvement with more general grief support groups. The group will meet weekly, in person only, at the Leawood location on Thursday nights from 6:30-8 pm, April 21 – May 26. The number of registrants will be limited to 20, and participants are asked to commit to attending each week’s session. If this is something you are interested in, please email Tom Langhofer for more information.

SEVENDAYS® KINDNESS WALK

As many of you may remember, on Palm Sunday in 2014, Dr. William Corporon, his grandson Reat Underwood, and Terri LaManno were tragically killed. Out of this tragedy SevenDays®: Make a Ripple, Change the World was started. On Sunday, April 24 at 4:30 pm CT the annual Kindness Walk will take place, starting at the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Many of you have been a part of this annual walk in year’s past, and I’d love to encourage you to walk again this year. The walk advocates for kindness and understanding in place of hate. Reat and Bill were a part of Resurrection, as is their family. For more information and to register, click here.

JOIN ME TUESDAY NIGHT FOR VESPERS

Join me this coming Tuesday at 7:30 pm CT on Facebook Live, on my Facebook page: Pastor Adam Hamilton on Facebook for Tuesday Vespers. In this weekend’s sermon I’ll be focusing on Luke’s account of the final three statements of Jesus from the cross. But in Vespers next Tuesday I’ll be focusing on the Final Words that appear in the other gospels. Matthew and Mark share one statement from Jesus as he died – a statement that does not appear in Luke or John. John has three statements of Jesus from the cross, that don’t appear in Matthew, Mark or Luke. We’ll consider each of these powerful words from the cross. I’ll be drawing upon a devotional book I wrote some years ago called, Final Words. I hope you’ll join me for this Holy Week Tuesday Vespers. You’ll also be able to view it on my Facebook page or on the Vespers YouTube page after Tuesday night.

WOMEN’S MINISTRY UPDATE

I wanted to share with you that Michelle Funk, our Director of Women’s Ministry, has announced her upcoming retirement in August after 23 years of serving on staff at Resurrection, 20 of those dedicated to Women’s Ministry. From Building Better Moms to Inspired for Life Conferences, Michelle has been instrumental in developing ministry programs, events and conferences that have impacted the lives of thousands of women. I hope you’ll join me in expressing appreciation for Michelle for her important work that truly has helped make our world look a little more like God’s kingdom. We have posted the women’s ministry director position at cor.org/employment, and hope to have someone in place this summer to work with Michelle during this transition.

Finally, if you are looking for some inspiration today, check out the new original song released by the COR Worship Collective today. Revival is a song of the weary, those longing for God to move in powerful ways – like on the winds at creation or like fire at Pentecost. It’s a call for the Holy Spirit to move in and through our lives today. It’s streaming on all platforms, here’s the link.

I am so looking forward to sharing this Holy Week with you!

Adam

SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING AT YOUR RESURRECTION LOCATION!

Watch for the “Next” newsletter in your email on Tuesday. This newsletter includes a personal message from your location pastor (Wendy, Anne, Bill, Penny, Joshua and Ashley) and opportunities for you to engage and connect at your location. If you’re not receiving it right now, you can sign up here.